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Brigitte Macron insists on eating ten fruit and vegetables every day to keep svelte while her husband Emmanuel is partial to a more fattening cordon bleu, the head chef at the Elysée Palace has revealed.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Guillaume Gomez, 39, who has served meals for four successive presidents, said the menu was always "adapted" to presidential tastes, but centered on French cuisine.

"Let's not hide behind false modesty," he said. "Some 70 per cent of tourists who come to France say they do so for its gastronomy."

Guillaume GomezCredit:
Karine Pierre

He added: "We serve only French products at the president's table if possible. Naturally the coffee isn't French, but all our fish, meat and fruit and vegetables either come from mainland France or from overseas territories.

"We prioritise local food produced less than 100 km from Paris for fruit and vegetables and some dairy products."

Around half of the Elysée ingredients are organic, while some of the herbs, including rosemary and laurier are grown in the palace's vast gardens.

There is a plan next spring to open an organic presidential vegetable patch - either at the Elysée or Versailles Palace.

And while Mr Macron is busy modernising France upstairs, Mr Gomez is urging his countrymen to get back to basics in the kitchen.

He has just published a recipe book - Cuisine, Step By Step Lessons - focusing on the techniques underpinning classic French dishes from boeuf bourguignon to pot-au-feu and quiche Lorraine.

"If you want very modern recipes or fusion, this book isn't for you," said the bear-like chef, sitting in his office with a large photo of Mr Macron handing on the wall and a framed certificate of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Worker in France) award granted to only a handful of the country's top chefs.

"This is a book about learning cooking techniques. In a sense, the recipes are not important. Once you have learned your technical scales, you can turn your hand to anything," said Mr Gomez.

His team of 25 cooks still use copper saucepans that were in the kitchens of Napoleon in the early 1800s.

With few visitors when the Telegraph visited, they were preparing a simple meal of roast chicken des Landes and Pommes Dauphin - or shredded potato cake.

The kitchen of French president Emmanuel Macron's chef Guillaume GomezCredit:
Karine Pierre

Mr Macron has likened his lofty presidential style to Jupiter, the Roman god of gods.

His top chef has a photomontage of himself in his office under the heading The Godfather, making no bones about who is top dog down here.

As head chef, Mr Gomez prepares up to 95,000 meals per year, from simple tete a tete dinners between the president and his wife to lavish gala feasts for foreign dignitaries.

He has twice served the Queen, most recently in 2014 for the 70th D-Day anniversary when, in an "unprecedented" move, she was allowed to choose the menu.

He said he was impressed when she asked for foie gras given the controversy in Britain over fattened duck liver pate. "She showed she's the Queen and can do as she pleases," he said.

Her choice of spring lamb from Sisteron in the heart of Provence led to a "major boost in exports" for the appellation, which was struggling, he enthused.

While Elysée staff are served a fixed menu, the Macrons can order what they like, from "sandwiches" to sushi.

But he insisted there was no 24-hour room service. "We are not prey to presidential whims," he said. "It's a myth to believe they ask for this or that at the drop of a hat."

Brigitte MacronCredit:
AFP

The chef was loath to spill the beans on the specific culinary tastes of France's power couple, but did recently concede to French media that "Mrs Macron wants to be served ten fruit and vegetables per day", particularly seasonal ones.

It was easily done, he said: "When you do an assortment of raw fruit and vegetables, that's already five varieties.

"Even in a blanquette de veau there are four or five vegetables. Variety is the key," he said.

The chef also has a habit of serving cordon bleu at receptions - a breaded meat dish that Mr Macron particularly likes.

"We adapt to presidential tastes," he said, adding that cheese and wine were back on the menu after Mr Sarkozy took them off the menu during his five-year stint in the Elysée.

There is one new guest he doesn't have to worry about: the presidential couple's dog Nemo.

"Here I feed everyone, and if I have to feed animals I will do so. We fed the dogs of other presidents," he told BFM TV.

"Apparently, for health reasons, the consensus is dog biscuits are best, so Nemo eats dog food and I don't get involved."